Laura Linney: Gender Inequality in Hollywood Is "Unhealthy"

Laura Linney was presented with the Crystal Award for Excellence in Film Wednesday night at the annual Women in Film gala in Beverly Hills, but during her acceptance speech, Linney said that women still have a long way to go in the industry.

"As an actress in film, it is very easy to become isolated just due to the ratio of gender inequality that exists," Linney told the audience according to Deadline. "Rarely do you have a scene with other women, very few women are on the crew, and what few female executives arrive tend to keep to themselves. You have fewer and fewer women to turn to for help or advice, and information is not easily shared."

Linney encouraged the women in the crowd to act as mentors to their younger counterparts and thanked people who had been influential in her career, including Sherry Lansing and Jeanne Tripplehorn.

In her speech, Linney described gender inequality in Hollywood as "a problem. And it is unhealthy. And I believe it has something to do with the slow pace of progress women are making, not only in their artistic lives, but especially in their business lives."